In yet another example of how Argentine-born Pope Francis seems to be able to reach people on opposing ideological sides, Raul Castro, the President of Cuba, just said that the teachings of Pope Francis had persuaded him not only to take a softer line on religion in his communist country, but that he might even be persuaded to return to the Catholic Church.

The 83-year-old communist leader, who attended Jesuit schools as a boy, said he reads all of the pope's speeches, according to CNN.

"If the Pope continues to speak like this, sooner or later I will start praying again and I will return to the Catholic Church -- and I'm not saying this jokingly," he said.

Castro added that he would be among the many crowding to see the pontiff when he comes to the island nation in September.

After the longtime atheist met with the pope, he said: "I promise that I will go to all of his Masses -- and with satisfaction. I left the meeting this morning impressed, very impressed by his knowledge, his wisdom, modesty, and by all the virtues that we know he has."

Despite the story of Jesus dividing up the fishes and the loaves for the masses, communism and religion do not generally mix. Karl Marx, the revolutionary German sociologist and author of the "Communist Manifesto," famously described religion as “the opium of the people."

But there seems to be a new tolerance for Christian teachings in Cuba, just as Rome begins advocating help for the poor. 

On Tuesday, the Vatican brought in Gustavo Gutierrez, the father of the much debated Liberation Theology movement, to address the press on the subject of ministering to the poor.

Liberation Theology, a Latin American movement that focused not only on ministering to the poor but on a reinterpreting Catholic scripture while fighting the roots of poverty, is a controversial ideal as it allows in some cases for the use of arms to reach a desired goal.

As quoted in the Daily Beast, Gutierrez, the keynote speaker at the Caritas International general assembly, spoke to the gathered crowd on social justice and poverty saying: “there is no charity without justice."

“People love to speak about being post-socialist, post-capitalist, post-industrialist” but people are not “living post-poverty.”